


This Is Me

by Shade_Penn1



Series: Ultimateverse Re-Imaginings [5]
Category: Spectacular Spider-Man (TV), The Avengers (2012), Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Child Abuse, Coping, Cross-Generational Friendship, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fake Marriage, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Past Abuse, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-03
Updated: 2012-06-19
Packaged: 2017-11-04 18:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/396813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shade_Penn1/pseuds/Shade_Penn1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Joey never realized the chain reaction of him simply running away from home would have. Though despite it all, he would have done the thing all over again if given the chance. He took that first step and never looked back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Joey paced around his room, looking at the clock on his desk for the third time in a row, pausing momentarily at the time before going back to his pacing and listened carefully for the door to the front door to open and close. The blond froze briefly when he heard the rustling of footsteps on the floor and remained perfectly still as his ears strained to wait for the door to open. 

Joey heard the door click shut and the lock turn before he sprang into action and as soon as he was out of his room, he went right for the cupboard, by passing the fridge completely as there wasn’t any real food in it and took his bag off his shoulder and began stuffing some of the cans his father made him go out and buy and the instant noodles. 

The blond only moved to the fridge to take several water bottles out it and put them in his bag before closing it and ran over to the closet by the door and took his coat off the hanger, putting it on and lifting his hood up before opening the door and left the house after slinging the pack back over his shoulders. He paused briefly as the cold air hit his face and he took one step back, thinking this was a mistake, when his father’s drunken voice rang through his head as he yelled at him through his locked door. Locked from the inside that is.

Joey’s face hardened before he purposefully took a step forward, then another, and then another as he steadfastly ignored the feeling to go back, viciously reminding himself what would only happen the next day after his father got done on his night at the bar. 

Joey’s steps got quicker as he thought over everything that had happened in the last three years. The abuse had always been there, only over the duration of the three years had it been really bad. His mother wasn’t any better, but at least she’d feed him when she and his sister had been around. His eyes stung as he thought about the day he’d seen his sister looking out at the car door as their mother drove away after their parents’ divorce.

His mother got Serenity, and his father got him. Joey personally thought he got the raw end of the deal in the whole thing.  
Then there was the matter of his…unnaturalness. Lights would act weird when he was angry or sad, and he could know things when in the form of a question. He’d been vaguely aware of these powers since he was five, but never really understood what they were until he had consciously asked himself a question when he was doing an addition problem in grade 1.

The only downside to that day had been when he tried to use this ability to try and use it to answer all his questions and he’d thrown up in the middle of the classroom. 

His sister had been the first person he ever told when he was 8, and she had been amazed, but then again, she’d also believed that there was nothing wrong with how their parents acted. His parents though had been…less than amazed. The looks of disgust and disbelief were seared into his mind when he’d excitedly showed his parents what he could do with the lights. 

He still berated himself for his moment of stupidity, and this whole thing he was doing now had also been absurd in his mind before he reasoned with himself that there couldn’t possibly be anything that could scare him more than an abusive parent.  
Joey only tuned back into reality once he found himself out of breath at a crosswalk and leaned against the lamppost as he looked down at the ground, the setting sun glaring in his eyes as he tried to get his breathing under control. 

He glanced up out of the corner of his eye and noticed the street name before hurrying down the sidewalk and looked at the numbers of the apartment buildings before going into one and took the elevator to the 2nd floor. He felt his breathing hitch when he knocked on the door and no one answered. 

The blond pounded on the door and he thought that he couldn’t have done all of this for nothing. He didn’t want to go back ‘home’ and this was the only other place he could go to. Joey kept his feelings under control when the lights in the hall started to flicker and he thought about if Clint kept a spare key. The answer was ‘under the plant.’

Joey lifted the plant pot by the door up and took out the small silver key and unlocked the door before putting it back. He went into the house and closed the door behind him. The blond knew that he could trust Clint as his know-everything ability had never led him wrong before. That and the man had been the only one who ever actually seemed to care enough to ask what his home life was like when he’d go to the recreational center. 

The blond had known the older blond since a little after his parent’s divorce and while he wanted to trust the man, he wasn’t stupid and made every precaution he could to know where to hit someone and pepper spray on him. And it wasn’t just Clint at the time, as his less than glowing opinions of his parents had made him wary of all adults, despite the fact Clint looked barely like one at the time. 

Over time though, Clint had become his one exception and he’d even started seeing him as the older brother he’d never had before finally seeing him as the father he’d always wanted. 

Joey moved over to couch and looked up at the clock before curling up on the sofa, hoping the man wouldn’t be too mad at him for coming here. He just didn’t want to go back though.

\----------------------------

Clint felt his muscles ache as he unlocked the door to his apartment, having got back from today’s assignment and it had taken some toll on him, but nothing too serious that he had to stay in the medical wing; as he really hated staying there. 

His debriefing had taken longer than he’d liked and all he really wanted to do was just go to sleep. When he closed the door behind him, he stopped as he heard snoring coming from his living room and he narrowed his eyes as walked toward the room, his eyes looking every which way before they fell onto the couch and his eyes widened.

Joey was sleeping on his couch, a bag over his shoulders and he could clearly see the black eye as the sunglasses on his nose fell to the bridge. He contemplated waking the kid up and asking him what-no, how he knew where to find him and why, well, not so much why as he could guess that reason that the kid was here.

The blond man walked toward his closet before taking out a blanket and walked back into the room, carefully taking the pack and sunglasses off and putting them onto the floor before he put the blanket on him and walked back to his room.

This could be sorted out tomorrow; the kid looked like he needed a good-night’s sleep, and so did he.


	2. Chapter 2

When Joey opened his amber eyes, he felt the blanket on him and his first thought was that his plan of running away had only been a dream and he felt like panicking before his eyes caught sight of the room and he relaxed. He pushed the blanket off him and stretched his arms as he noticed his sunglasses glinting on the table in the sunlight and he frowned to himself and felt the area around his eye, flinching at the pain. 

The pain reminded him of the other fact he wore his sunglasses, as his eyes hadn’t been amber to begin with, they’d been brown, only to change when he turned 12 and his ‘father’ had given him a beating to try and get rid of anymore of his ‘unnaturalness.’ He shuddered as the memory caused phantom aches in his ribs and chest, but the pain around his neck wasn’t an old wound.

The blond got off the couch as his hoodie fell to his back and walked toward the kitchen, deciding to make Clint a breakfast so the man wouldn’t be too angry at him for breaking into his home. He rummaged through the fridge and was disturbed the lack of food in it, but grabbed the carton of eggs and started up the stove before putting the coffee on. 

His only consolation was that he was making this breakfast because he wanted too, and not because he was forced to for a temperamental man with a hangover who’d snap at the sight of him to cook him food. 

Joey tried to brush off the depressing thoughts for the moment and started frying up the eggs, settling on making them scrambled as their wasn’t any bread to make an egg sandwich. He heard the door to the bedroom open and steadfastly ignored the blond man who was looking at him strangely as the younger blond got the plates and cup. 

Joey turned off the stove after the eggs were done and avoided eye contact with the man as he put the plate in front of him and poured him some coffee and set that in front of him. To the older blonde’s credit, he didn’t speak until Joey was sitting down himself and eating his own eggs before finally talking.

“This is good.” He said in a deceptively conversational tone.

Joey nodded, not trusting himself to speak, if he could speak without any pain that is.

Clint frowned at him as he put the fork down. “Joey, I know you’d never come here unless you had a good reason for it; what happened this time?” He knew what Joey’s home life was like, and while he had honestly tried to get the younger blond out of there, he didn’t have any proof and Joey was too scared to tell the authorities.

Though Clint had always suspected that Joey really did believe they wouldn’t do anything even if did say something.

Joey knew Clint had already seen his black eye, but he hadn’t seen what else had been done and he tentatively pulled down the collar of his hoodie to show dark angry red marks around his neck, the marks on the front of his throat looking disturbingly like thumb marks. 

It didn’t take much for Clint to realize who caused those marks, but it was only the why that eluded him. “What happened? If you don’t want to speak, you don’t have to.”

Joey nodded before going over to his bag and taking out a sheet and when Clint received it, he found it was a report card dated to the day before. He looked over the grades and his brow furrowed as a vaguely disturbed expression crossed his face. “He…he strangled you because you have good grades?” he asked in disbelief.

Joey nodded, not wanting to add that his ‘father’ also done it because he didn’t want him to become even more ‘unnatural,’ the blonde’s own disbelief on how the man had thought being smart could possibly be a bad thing. Then again, Joey had been called a thing to his face so it didn’t really matter what anyone called him.

But his ‘father’ had given him his black eye after strangling him because he’d snapped back that he wasn’t stupid and he wouldn’t stop being smart because he was scared of him. He’d wound up on the floor the next second and his eye stung before his father spat at him how he should have just left him at an orphanage so he wouldn’t be his problem.

Joey was no stranger to the fact his father seemed to blame him for being born, despite the fact his father had cheated on his mother and he was the result. At least his mother only seemed to hate him on how he came to be a part of their messed up family. Then again, from their arguing late at night he’d over hear them and found out they had problems even before he was born, ironically over the fact whether or not they wanted kids.

As Joey was going over his relatively short life, Clint was looking down at the paper with a furrowed brow as he read the comments that the teachers had. Joey was hard-working, if a little quiet, and eerily meticulous with his work. If he hadn’t known Joey beforehand and he was only now meeting him, he would have thought this kid wasn’t actually 14. 

But he did know Joey, and throughout those years the younger blond had never behaved like a kid. Well, not his age anyway. Hell, the kid had been more mature than him at the time, and even then he found this attitude disturbing.

“I’m proud of you.” Clint said awkwardly and felt that this needed to be said. Joey gave him a disbelieving look of his own and the older blond winced at it being intensified by the black eye on his face. “I’m serious, you’re smart, a lot smarter than half the people I work with, and a lot more…serious.” He added, but that last part was something he didn’t feel right about adding. “Though, there are exceptions.” He finished belatedly in a purposefully laid-back tone.

Joey stared at him for a long moment before the barest hint of a smile crossed his face. He didn’t speak, but Clint wasn’t exactly expecting him to as the boy had come here for help.

“I’m going to help you, I promise; you never have to go back there if I can help it. I’m only sorry it’s taking so long.” The older blond said sounding genuinely remorseful.

Joey hesitantly nodded, but there was a look on his face as though he was silently asking ‘why’ it was taking so long in the first place.

So Clint decided to answer him. “The first time I tried to see about getting you out of your home, I couldn’t as I had no proof. When I tried to ask about adopting you in a roundabout way, I was told that my home life wasn’t exactly an idea environment for raising a kid, what with my work hours and such.” He explained, but when Joey cringed back, he quickly rectified his fears. “I’m not going to send you away; I just want you to know why this hasn’t happened yet.”

Joey nodded after a moment and he knew Clint must have been a busy person, but he was still the only adult he trusted to actually go to.

“Now, the first thing we need to do is take you to the clinic,” Clint started and Joey stared at him wide eyed and shook his head, grimacing at the pain that no doubt came from his neck, “Joey, we need to make sure that nothing’s wrong. It hurts when you try to speak, doesn’t it?” he asked and the blond nodded. “Well, you want that to stop don’t you, and to make sure that your father never does this again?”

Joey frowned as he thought it over. He’d always been too afraid to go to the police or the like because he was sure they wouldn’t believe him, but Clint made a good point. And he did come here after all, so maybe it was time to stop being so afraid. 

Hesitantly, just like when he’d stopped outside his home and thought about leaving, he nodded.

The older blond nodded back at him before gesturing for him to take his previous seat. “If you’re still hungry, finish up eating, then we’ll go to the clinic.” He said and Joey nodded before sitting down. Before the boy could start eating though, the phone rang and he froze up briefly before relaxing as Clint got up to answer it. “Yeah? You’re kidding; I have to come in today? Damn the meeting, I have something more important to do.” He grimaced and Joey wondered who he was talking to. “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” he paused before glancing over at Joey, “but I’m bringing someone with me. No, I’m not being stupid, this is the important thing I had to do, and I can’t put it off.” There was a long pause. “Sure, whatever.” He said flippantly before hanging up the phone.

Joey stared at him as Clint ate up the rest of his breakfast before putting it into the sink. 

“Slight change of plans, you’re coming to work with me.” Clint said bluntly and Joey froze again. “Don’t worry, they have a medical ward there and you change see a doctor, and get a clean change of clothes while you’re at it.” He said trying to lighten the mood, but Joey didn’t budge from his seat and sighed. “Look Joey, I’m not asking you to trust them, I’m not even asking you to like them, but at least trust me on this.” He said earnestly.

Joey was amazed at Clint’s sudden change of flippant and cavalier when he was talking on the phone, back to serious and understanding. And he had a point, he didn’t have to trust anyone else, but Clint did prove that Joey could trust him at least. The blond nodded before retrieving his pack and sunglasses, pulling the collar back up to hide his neck as he didn’t want it to be on display what had happened to him. 

They both left the apartment and Joey felt the stirrings of nervousness in his chest before pushing it back as the lights reacted to his mood and he didn’t want Clint to know about his…strangeness. When they got into the car and the older blond started driving away, Joey kept his emotions in check since he didn’t want to cause a car accident or anything.

“Okay kid, I want you to stick close and don’t go wandering off.” Clint said as he stopped the car inside a building parking lot. “We’re going to need to explain the situation to the medics, okay?” he asked and after a moment, Joey nodded. “But I’m going to be in a meeting and I don’t know how long it’ll take, but please bear with me.”

Joey nodded again, and he honestly didn’t mind having to wait around, so long as he knew he wasn’t going to be alone. He looked around the dark parking lot, even darker with the sunglasses on, but he saw Clint walking toward the door and followed after him. 

He saw Clint give a two-fingered salute to the camera, and Joey was surprised that Clint didn’t seem worried about getting into trouble for bringing him here. 

“Everyone’s gonna know about you being here in just a few hours, even less probably,” Clint mused uncaringly, “so long as they don’t bother you I don’t really care.”

Joey tilted his head, and just as he was about to risk trying to talk, Clint held up a hand to stop him, though it had the adverse effect of making Joey flinch back. The older blond winced as he put his hand down. “Sorry about that.” He said sounding apologetic. “But don’t worry, anyone wants to make something out of this, they’re gonna have to deal with me. While you’re with me, you’re my responsibility.” 

Joey felt somewhat reassured by these words and nodded before they continued on walking.


	3. Chapter 3

Joey stared out from his sunglasses as he watched Clint explain to the medics to take a look at him, all of them looking at him disapprovingly, though he figured that it had more to do with the fact he brought a civilian into the building.

The blond walked over and at Clint’s insistence, took his sunglasses off and lowered his collar to let the markings be seen. He watched the medical personnel’s faces change and Clint whispered a reassurance to him before leaving the room.

Joey stared at the doctors before a blonde woman moved forward. “Mr. Wheeler, please put these on, you can change in the bathroom.” She said handing him hospital patient clothing and he nodded before walking over to the bathroom.

The blonde changed out of his clothes and folded them up before walking out of the room and set the clothes down onto the chair he’d been sitting on with his pack. He was given an ice pack to put over his eye after the blond woman checked it over and looked over his now rapidly bruising neck. 

“Can you speak?” she asked and Joey shook his head. She frowned for a moment before gently pressing down onto it and Joey flinched. “Unfortunately there’s nothing to be done until it heals itself, but I’m going to need you to lift your shirt to make sure there isn’t any other damage.”

Joey reluctantly lifted up his shirt to show faded yellow marks on his back and rolled his sleeves to reveal the same to his arms when they took his blood. He grimaced through it and looked over at the nurse. 

“We need to make sure you’re alright on the inside as well, like if you were getting everything you needed.” She replied.  
Joey wanted to say that he made sure he got everything he needed, but his throat hurt to do much of anything, and even when he ate it hurt. The only reason he did at all was because he didn’t have to chew the eggs much and swallowed them with ease. 

“For your throat we recommend that until it stops hurting to eat only soft foods and to avoid talking all together. Your voice might get a little rusty but at least you won’t cause any unnecessary pain.” The blonde woman said.

Joey nodded slightly; he could do that, he barely ever talked at home as it was since being seen in that house never ended well for him. He saw another medic, this one a male go over to the blonde and whisper something before she nodded and looked back at him before handing him an eraser board and a marker. 

“You can use this until you’re able to talk, okay?”

Joey nodded as he began writing something down and then showed it to her. |Do I have to stay here?|

The nurse looked uncertain for a moment before shaking her head. “No, the cameras in the hall will keep track of you and someone over the speaker will tell you if you can’t be somewhere, okay?”

Joey nodded before getting on the bed and making his way out of the room. It felt weird wearing a scrub-like outfit, but until he could get changed it’d have to do. Joey asked himself if Clint was still in his meeting, and the answer he got was ‘no,’ so either his testing took longer than he thought, or Clint’s meeting wasn’t as long as he thought. 

He heard something hitting something from a room he was about to pass and the door slid open after he found the button and saw a blond man hitting a punching bag, and from the looks of it he hasn’t been doing it for long.

The man stopped when he heard the door slid open and turned around with an annoyed look on his face before it dropped when he saw Joey’s condition. “What happened to you?”

Joey walked in as he wrote his answer down on the board for him to see more clearly. |Got beat up.|

The man looked over him again, this time more worriedly. “Can you speak?”

|Hurts too much to talk, gotta use this until then.| Joey replied and shrugged.

The man still gave him a disbelieving stare before shaking his head. “How did you get here, anyway?”

|Clint brought me.| Joey replied.

“Clint?” The man repeated and his expression darkened. “Did he do that to you?”

|No! I came to him for his help.| Joey replied and wrote something else down after that. |You know Clint though?|

“I...work with him.” The man replied evasively.

|Oh, my name’s Joey, what’s yours?| Joey asked.

“Steve.” The man replied and Joey nodded slightly. 

|Do you know where Clint is?| he asked.

“He’s doing paperwork for bringing you here.” Steve replied looking apologetic for some reason. “Are you hungry though?”

Joey frowned before he remembered Clint’s earlier words. He was only going to go with this man because he was hungry, not because he trusted him. The younger blond nodded and the older one gestured for him to follow him and they walked down the hall, Joey keeping a careful distance from him.

They both came to a room that looked vaguely like a kitchen and inside the room was a dark-haired man sitting at the table drinking something out of a class, Joey realizing with a start that it was alcohol and moved just a little more near the blond man and took notice of a red-haired woman also. 

The man saw him first and his brow raised. “Shit kid, what happened to you?”

Steve frowned and crossed his arms. “Tony, this is Joey, he’s the boy Clint brought here.” He said calmly, though there was an edge of annoyance in his voice.

The redhead looked up curiously for a moment before looking disinterestedly back at her mug, which did not look like there was an alcohol in its contents.

“Still, what happened to you?” This Tony asked and Joey felt his anger rise at the nonchalance.

Joey’s hand shook as he started writing down just what he asked for. |My father did this to me all because I’m very smart.| It wasn’t arrogant to add that ‘very’ as everyone else at school acknowledged it was true. 

Steve stared down at the boy in great concern and Tony stared at him with an unreadable expression that looked off   
compared to the laid-back one he’d had on his face seconds ago. “Your….father did that to you?”

Joey nodded, though he didn’t want to hear any sympathy since he had only told him what he wanted to know in the first place. He pointed ignored the man with the class full of practical poison and looked up at Steve to let him know the next message was for him. |Lost my appetite, going to look for Clint.| He didn’t wait for a reply before walked out of the room. 

The blond saw the lights start to flicker and brought his emotions back under control as he walked down the hall. He might have been a little blunt towards the dark-haired man, but seeing the alcohol just made him antsy and he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

Who knew what these people were like drunk. 

Joey felt a niggling at the back of his mind, frowning at the feeling before he brushed it aside as nothing more than worry and kept on walking. He eventually came to a room that had a glass wall and found Clint standing in the back while another blond was standing in front of the glass. 

Joey moved over to Clint’s side and tentatively peered up at him, and when the older blond saw him through the corner of his eye, he nodded. Joey nodded back and heard several footsteps and looked back up as a dark-haired man was led down the hall on the other side of the glass by several armed men.

Joey saw the man smirk at the blond at the glass and everyone else in the room before his eyes landed on him and his smirk fell from his face and an enraged look crossed his face and Joey felt the niggling at the back of his mind come back once more and he furrowed his brow at the feeling. 

What happened next seemed to surprise everyone. The man’s handcuffs came off and he seemed to disappear before their eyes. Joey saw Clint jerk and was pushed away from him before he felt someone grab his arm and he blinked as a sense of vertigo came over him. 

When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in a room that seemed to be underground, but in a room far up in what looked like a hotel room. He stared out the window to see how far up he was and clutched the board in his arms before slowly turning around and slowly wrote something down. |Why did you do that?|

“They hurt you, they’re lucky that’s all I did.” The man replied darkly.

Joey furrowed his brow before he realized the man was talking about his injuries before quickly writing something down. |They didn’t hurt me, my father did this.| 

This didn’t seem to make man look any calmer; instead his expression seemed to get worse. “He…he did what!? He dare hurt my son?”

Joey’s eyes widened and the lights above them exploded as it rained down onto the floor. He nervously moved back, but the man only waved his hand the shards all disappeared. |Who are you? I already have a biological father.| he certainly wasn’t happy about that last part himself though. 

“I’m Loki,” The man sad and had Joey just not seen him make those shards disappear or having been teleported all the way up here, he probably wouldn’t have believed him, “and I’m your mother.”

Okay, now he was lost. |But you’re a dude!|

“Well I obviously wasn’t a man when I had you.” The man replied patronizingly and Joey frowned before he realized what else this meant if it was true.

|Say this is true, why did you leave me with my father?| Joey questioned.

“Because when you were born looking human, I would rather you be raised by your father than have a worse fate.” He replied and Joey quickly wrote something down again.

|Well you’re plan failed as my father hated me.| he replied frowning. |Now send me back, I don’t want Clint to get worried about me.|

“I just got you back,” Loki said narrowing his eyes at him, “but if you still don’t believe me, you can get them to test your DNA and you’ll clearly see it’s human.”

Before Joey could reply, he blinked again and was back in the room he had been in previously and just as he was about to look around, he felt two arms wrap around him. He flinched before he realized it was Clint and relaxed. 

“You’re okay, that psycho didn’t hurt you, did he?” he asked before pulling back to let Joey write something down.

|No, he said he’s my mother and he only took me because he thought you were the one who hurt me.| Joey replied and Clint’s brow furrowed.

“He’s your what?” he asked before shaking his head. “That can’t be, that myth can’t be true.”

|He said to test my DNA to prove I’m not human.| Joey replied. |That shouldn’t be hard as the medics took some of my blood to make sure nothing was wrong with me.|

Clint shook his head again before hugging Joey again just as the door slid open and a man with an eye patch and another middle-aged man came in.

“What the hell happened in here?” The man with the eye patch yelled and Joey flinched.

“Sir, Loki escaped and took that kid with him.” One of the men said nodding at Joey and the one-eyed man looked down at him.

“So you’re the one Barton brought with him.” he muttered. “Did he say anything to you?” Joey remained silent. “Talk boy!”

“He can’t!” Clint snapped and everyone else looked at him. “Sir,” he added more grudgingly, “he wrote down though that Loki only took him because he thought we were the ones who hurt him.”

“And why would he care what happens to one teenager?” The other man questioned.

“Because….” Clint trailed off and looked down at Joey, who nodded in resignation, “he said he’s his mother.”

Everyone stared at him and the other blond man walked over and looked intently at his features and just as Joey started to get even more nervous than he already was; the man spoke in a booming voice and nearly shattered Joey’s ear drums. “Nephew!”

Joey was brought into a nearly bone-crushing hug that Clint was dragged into as well since he himself was still hugging Joey. The younger blond started to regret already letting Clint say that.


	4. Chapter 4

Joey rummaged through his bag as Clint sat beside him while the medical personnel were doing the DNA testing to secure what Loki had told him and the only reason Clint was allowed in was because the blond was his perspective guardian. 

They’re was still that pesky notion of the fact that Clint needed to be married in order to adopt a kid, and then there’s the fact he would have to report his father. 

Joey took out his IPod and saw Clint give him a look as he realized the man thought he was poor. He grabbed the board from him and started to write something down. |My step-mother might not have wanted anything to do with me, but I’m still close to my step-sister and she’d send me stuff for my birthday.|

“Oh and how did she manage to buy it?” Clint questioned.

|My step-mother cheated too and after my parent’s divorce Serenity told me that she went back to her father.| Joey replied.

“Some family you have.” Clint said sardonically.

|I’ll say.| Joey wrote and a wry smiled twisted at his lips. |Serenity also sent me a computer laptop last year, and I’ve had a hard time to keep it all from my father.|

“You won’t have to hide your stuff anymore.” Clint promised and Joey nodded. “Can I take a look?” he asked holding out his hand.

Joey hesitated before handing him the device and quickly wrote something down. |Just don’t laugh.|

Clint nodded absently as he scrolled through the few files on the IPod and raised a brow. “You sure got a lot of Skye Sweetnam songs.”

Joey shrugged. |I like the music.| 

“Fair enough.” Clint replied and handed it back to him when the doctor came back over to him. “What do the results say?”

“Joey isn’t human as you said.” She replied. 

Joey quickly wrote something down. |Then I guess he was right, now how about that adoption?|

\-----------------------------------------

Joey stared at the dark-haired woman, to surprised that even the lights didn’t burst. The woman stared back in the same amount of shock, but after a moment of looking over his condition, brought him into a hug.

Joey didn’t resist as his favourite teacher hugged him. 

“I take it you two know each other already?” Clint asked dryly.

“I’m his teacher.” Jessica said curtly before pulling back and looked over at the older blond, her expression going into it’s cool faced mask. “And it seems I’ve been assigned to be your ‘wife’ to fool the adoption agency into letting you take this child in.”

Joey didn’t mind Miss Drew as much as the other teachers, but he couldn’t feel irritated by being called a child. |That solves one of the problems.|

“I…guess.” Clint said looking less than happy for some reason. “No offense, but don’t expect any mushy stuff since you’re not exactly my ‘type.”

Joey blinked, even more when Miss Drew added, “That’s a relief, I’d hate for my girlfriend to get jealous.”

The younger blond looked between the two of them before calmly writing something down. |I did not see this coming.| 

Clint shrugged, but he did look apologetic. “Sorry you had to find out this way, but I hope you don’t mind.”

Joey really had to right to be mad about this as he resolved to tell Clint about his powers later on. |I’ve always wanted a dad, and you’re that person. I don’t mind.| he was just really surprised that Clint could be so offhand about this though. 

“Director Fury wants us to fill out our fake marriage certificate so Coulson can get things rolling.” Jessica said gesturing to the paper on the table that the three of them took a seat at. “This will be fake and neither of us are bound by the sanctity that marriage has, but we need to get our facts straight.”

“So you’ll be putting your last name as mine then?” Clint questioned and Joey felt like he was watching a business deal going down. 

Then again, that’s probably what this was.

Jessica snorted. “Not likely. I will still remain Jessica Drew, and you will still remain Clint Barton. Our cover will be that we are very new age and want to keep our identities. Joey though will have the option of keeping his name or changing it.”

|Joey Barton, definitely, since I am only going to be Clint’s son when this is all done.| Joey wrote and Jessica didn’t look at all offended. 

“A wise choice, and now we should get to know the basic facts about ourselves, so no one can surprise us with questions we haven’t gone over.” She said and looked at Clint for the last part.

The older blond shrugged his shoulders. “I’m 22, worked in the circus, and that’s all you really need to know.”

“You’re 22?” Jessica questioned as a sliver of incredulity made its way into her voice while Joey wrote something down again.

|You were in the circus?| 

Clint merely shrugged before looking at Jessica. “Now your turn.”

“I’m…34.” Jessica muttered, but neither Joey nor Clint reacted in any way to this, gratefully so. “I used to be part of a…group, and that’s all you need to know.” She said somewhat quickly.

Joey felt that this was his cue to do his bit. |I’m 14, and I have a seriously messed up life so far.|

Both adults grimaced at the reminder. 

\--------------------------------------------------

“Where did these come from?” Clint asked no one in particular as Joey picked up the clean change of clothes by his bag.

The blonde nurse from earlier looked over at him. “An agent came in and put them there, we figured you’d asked for them.”

Clint blinked and Joey did as well when they both realized that neither had in fact gotten the younger blond a clean change of clothing. “I guess when he saw you wearing scrubs he got the clothes himself.” Clint said sardonically.

Joey shrugged before walking over to the washroom and changing out the scrubs quickly before coming back out. 

“We’re gonna go to the police station…” Clint began when he saw Joey flinch. “Joey, this has to be done, he hurt you all your life and he can’t do this to anyone else.” Joey thought it over and shuddered at the thought of his father reproducing again before nodding. “Just think, if we do this now, we can get started on your adoption tomorrow…at best.” 

Joey nodded, but as they returned to Clint’s apartment, the younger blond struggled internally on whether or not he should tell Clint about his powers. If he waited, what if Clint got angry, or if he did what if he didn’t want to adopt him anymore?

Still, he had to say-er, write something so the older blond wouldn’t get any surprises when the lights flicker, or something blows up. He clutched the board for a tense moment before he started writing something down. |Clint, there’s something important I have to tell you, I hope you don’t turn me away.|

“Joey, I just found out your…mother, father, whatever, is a super villain, and I still want to adopt you, there’s no way I’m going to turn you away.” Clint said reassuringly.

Joey nodded shakily and wrote down his reply. |I have powers, lights act funny and if you ask me something I’ll know what it is.|

Clint blinked. “Well, considering the team I work on, I shouldn’t be surprised.” He said lightly and Joey smiled slightly. “How long have you had them?”

|I’ve been aware of them since I was five, but I never really knew that it was me until later.| Joey replied. 

“Hmm, tech and omniscience, do you think that’s all you can do?” Clint questioned and Joey shrugged, never having really thought about it before. 

“With the blood in his veins, it is most certainly not all he can do.”

Clint whirled around to the couch as Joey’s eyes widened in surprise and shock before the sound of the lights exploding rang in the kitchen and the electronics all fizzled. Clint looked up slightly before focusing on the person sitting regally on his sofa. “You know where I live?” he hissed and suddenly wished he had his bow just in case.

“I followed his magical signature here.” Loki said gesturing offhandedly at Joey.

“He can use magic?” Clint questioned, still wary and moved to stand in front of Joey.

|I have what?|

Clint suddenly shook his head as he felt his resolve strengthen. “Alright, what do you want?” he knew there wasn’t any other way to ask this, even though he also knew that it was a bad idea.

“You want to adopt my son.” It wasn’t a question, so Clint didn’t reply, but Joey still funny about hearing that phrase. “And why should I let you?”

Clint really couldn’t believe what he was hearing and his mouth ran before he realized what he was saying. “You left him with his father, why do you care what happens to him now?” he immediately tensed as Loki started glaring at him.

“My reasons are my own, and if I could have gotten away with it, Joey wouldn’t have to have been raised here.” He said and Joey happened to know the reason why he was left with his father, so he decided to try and smooth things over.

|I like Clint, he’d make a good dad, and he doesn’t know what he’s saying.| Joey wrote down quickly and the older blond kept quiet as he really couldn’t contradict him with any of it. |So, will you let him adopt me?|

Clint had a feeling if Joey didn’t like him, Loki wouldn’t have bothered with sending the kid back to him. “You mess up, you suffer. And remember, I’m watching you.”

Clint blinked only for a second, and he was gone. The blond looked down at the younger blond. “That was…ominous.”

|It was.| Joey replied before smiling. |Then it’s a good thing I know you won’t screw this up.|

“You sure have a lot of faith in me.” Clint said bemused.

Joey shrugged before looking down at the board shyly. |You were the only real parental figure I could look up, both   
figuratively and literally; you cared about me more than anyone else (besides Miss Drew) does.| 

“Thanks kid.” The older blond said smiling back at him, feeling genuinely touched by this. “Now, we can eat first or go to the police station, your choice.”

Joey wanted to delay it, but the quicker this was over with the better. |Police station, we can eat later.|

Clint nodded before the two of them moved into the kitchen, surprised to find the there was no trace of any glass on the floor. “Well, I got instant noodles if you want a quick meal?”

Joey paused and didn’t want to spend any more time cooking than he had to and was always up for a quick meal. |Sure.|


	5. Chapter 5

“What just happened?” Clint questioned in something sounding like astonishment in his voice.

Joey peered up at him through the top of his sunglasses before writing something down. |Apparently my ‘father’ turned himself in, though I think he might had a little ‘motivation’ to do so since I know he’d never do that on his own.|

“I think you might be right, but why not just kill him instead?” Clint asked raising a brow. Somewhere inside of him, he knew exactly what it felt like to want to kill the person who caused you so much pain, so this confused him. 

Joey blinked momentarily, his thoughts eerily similar to Clint’s own before he started writing done. |Maybe instead of killing my ‘father’ he wanted him to suffer. In jail he’d have to think about the reason why he was there, and I know for a fact that child abusers are treated much worse in prison.| he explained, before quickly erasing the board and wrote something else down, a dark look on his face. |He’s finally gonna know what it’s like to be treated like a punching bag.|

“Okay, first rule, no talking down on yourself; trust me when I say it can lead to some really depressing things you don’t ever wanna think about.” Clint said grimacing. 

Joey half wanted to ask what Clint was saying, but decided it was probably better not to bring up any unpleasant memories for him. He didn’t like thinking about the abuse, and he didn’t write anything asking him to elaborate. 

Now all there had to be done was just the adoption pushed through.

\---------------------

Two Months Later

“Wow, this place is so much nice than Clint’s apartment.” Joey said absently as he stared around the spacious living room, his eye cleared and his throat free of any remaining bruising.

“Gee, I think I liked you better when you couldn’t talk, you were nicer then.” Clint said sardonically as he carried his own bags past Joey and the younger blond flushed in embarrassment.

“Uh, sorry about that.” He said and the sound of light feminine laughter hit his ears.

“Can you really blame the kid for liking my home? It is nicer.” Jessica stated as she crossed her arms smugly, her green eyes glittering playfully.

Clint rolled his eyes. “How could you afford a place like this? I know for a fact how much SHEILD agents make.”

“Careful investments and it helps that I have a second job of teaching high school chemistry.” Jessica replied   
offhandedly. “And speaking of high school’ I got your transfer papers done, and you are now a proud Junior.”

“Great-wait, a sec, ‘Junior’? Shouldn’t I be a freshman or something?” Joey asked in confusion.

“Yes, yes you should, but the principal was so impressed by your grades that were skipped ahead.” Jessica replied shrugging.  
Joey shook his head in amazement and never thought so much could change in just two months, but it had been the best two months of his life so far. The adoption had been pushed through after his ‘father’ had been convicted and sent to prison after turning himself in.

The blond teen walked down the hall of the bungalow and past Clint’s room to his own. The room was bare, making it impossible to tell what it had been beforehand and started unpacking, the very little things he had sharply reminding him of what was his when he heard Clint and Jessica arguing about who got to use the bathroom in the morning and he reminded himself of just how much he had ‘now.’ 

He smiled slightly as he shook his head. “Hey, can I go out? Seeing as I have a few days free before school starts.”

There was a pause before Clint replied. “I’ll be at the rec center doing more volunteer work if you get bored of walking around.” He said and Joey’s smile widened.

“Thanks.” He called back before leaving his new room, cell tucked into his pocket in case he needed to make a call. He saw Clint leave the house before him as he stopped in front of Jessica. He didn’t ask the woman’s permission because she really didn’t have any say as to how he would be raised, not because she didn’t care, but because it was made clear she was ‘not’ going to really be his ‘mother.’ And to be perfectly honest, Joey really didn’t mind as he saw her as more of a sister-figure. “So, will I ever get to meet this Carol before or after I see her sneaking out of the house or in the kitchen in the morning?”

Jessica rolled her eyes, a slight blush on her face. “You’ll meet her eventually, I just want you to be more used to people. I think it’s safe to say that you’re making great progress; you don’t even freak out anymore when someone other than Clint bumps into you anymore.”

Joey remembered how he had to go with Clint to work for the most part after having his DNA test confirmed and he quite clearly remembered freaking out around the man’s teammates every time they or he accidently bumped into them. He didn’t know any of them and was wary around all of them, Stark in particular because of the fact he had first met the guy when he was drinking and that did not leave a good impression on him. 

The only two he was somewhat comfortable around were Steve and Bruce. The former because the impression he got was the man helping him out about where to find Clint, and the latter because he seemed to be more uncomfortable with being around Joey in the teen’s beat up state than Joey was around him. 

The teen had also learned to control his powers better as he early on decided that he so did not want to have them ever out of control; that would be very bad. And when practicing his tech power he made sure to stay away from Clint’s workplace and use it at home. His ‘new’ home that is.

“Yeah, I know.” Joey said nodding before walking out the front door and paused before closing it. “Wait, what about keys?”

Jessica smiled slightly. “Don’t worry about that, just go have fun.”

Joey nodded again and closed the door. He knew that seeing as he lived in New York for all his life that he should already know the city, but he hadn’t ventured far because of fear of getting caught. Now he could, and while he could use his omniscience ability to find his way back, he aimed to mindlessly walk around.

He stopped by a diner and looked around the quaint place for a moment and noticed a particularly downtrodden teen. He furrowed his brow for a moment before walking over, trying to put up an amiable smile. “Hey, you okay? It looks like someone just kicked your puppy.”

The teen looked up startled, but relaxed when he saw that it was only another teen. “Nah, just got back into town and my friend blew me off.” He grumbled.

Joey raised a brow. “Really? Do you happen to go to school around here?” he asked curiously. “I’m gonna be going to Midtown.”

The other teen tilted his head. “Heh, so do I; what grade?”

“Eh, 11.” Joey replied. 

“Me too, what a coincidence.” The redhead said sounding surprised. “And you said you were new, right?”

“That’s right.” Joey replied. “Think we’re gonna run into each other there?”

“Maybe if were in the same class then we could.” The redhead said shrugging. 

“Say, not to sound forward or anything, but can I take a seat?” Joey asked gesturing the opposite seat of the booth. 

The redhead shrugged. “Eh, go ahead, not like anyone else is gonna be showing up.” He muttered.

Joey sat down at the other side of the booth while he knew that this isn’t exactly what Jessica meant by ‘have fun,’ he didn’t really care. This was probably his only chance to get to know someone from his school his own age and he wasn’t wasting it. “I’m Joey, what’s your name?”

“Harry.”


End file.
